Chandigarh, Sep 14 (IANS): Over 2,500 government doctors in Punjab on Saturday decided to call off their weeklong-old strike, following assurances from Health Minister Balbir Singh on their demands.
Balbir Singh, along with Principal Secretary, Finance, Ajoy Kumar Sinha and Secretary, Health, Kumar Rahul chaired a meeting with a delegation of the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association, led by its state President Akhil Sarin, and appealed to the doctors to call off the strike as patients were facing hardships due to the strike.
Medical services in state-run hospitals were severely affected, following the strike. However, emergency and intensive care units (ICUs) were exempted from it.
The indefinite strike call initially was to keep outpatient departments (OPDs) shut for three hours, from 8 a.m., till September 11. From the next day, the strike was extended to the full day.
The minister informed the striking doctors said although the cabinet sub-committee had already agreed demands of the doctors on Wednesday, he reassured them that their demands like the restoration of Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) will be implemented soon.
Deliberating on other demands of the PCMSA, Balbir Singh, a doctor himself, said he himself "is of the opinion that there is stagnation in the career of a doctor, their first promotion is mostly at the age of 50 years" and he is working to increase the posts of Senior Medical Officers (SMOs) so that such stagnation can be minimised.
The government has sanctioned recruitment of 1,390 doctors out of which 400 vacancies have already been advertised.
Funds for the security arrangements in hospitals have already been released and CCTVs in all government health facilities are being installed, the minister said, as per an official statement.
He said the government is committed to the demands of the PCMSA as most of their demands have been approved and will be implemented in a time-bound manner.
During the meeting, PCMSA President Sarin expressed gratitude and announced to call off their strike with immediate effect. As a sympathetic gesture towards patients, the PCMSA decided to extend the OPD timing by two hours to compensate for the inconvenience faced by the patients due to the strike.
Secretary, Finance, Diprava Lakra, Director, Health and Family Welfare, Hitinder Kaur, Director, Medical Education and Research, Avnish Kumar and other senior officers of the state government were also present at the meeting.